Mexican Authorities List Conditions to Reboot ‘Remain in Mexico’ Program

A Border Patrol agent is posted in front of the U.S.–Mexico border barrier in Imperial County, which has been hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic in Calexico, Calif., on July 24, 2020. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Mexican authorities have laid out a series of conditions for reviving the “Remain in Mexico” program, the Trump-era framework under which asylum-seekers were returned to Mexico to await the processing of their claims.

The development comes as the Biden administration makes plans to reinstate the policy following a court order.

Mexico’s Foreign Ministry said in a Nov. 26 announcement that talks have “intensified” with the United States on rebooting the program, known as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), but that Mexican authorities are waiting for a formal response from the Biden administration on a number of concerns.

“The government of Mexico ... has raised various concerns of a humanitarian nature regarding the asylum procedure in the United States,” the ministry stated, noting that it has “highlighted the need to improve conditions for migrants and asylum-seekers, so that they have better legal advice” regarding the processing of their clams, which “must be carried out as expeditiously as possible.”

One of the conditions issued by Mexico is for the United States to accelerate development programs for southern Mexico and Central America in order to address the root causes of migration.

Another such condition is for Washington to offer individuals deported under the MPP program medical care and vaccination against COVID-19 “to protect their right to health and prevent the spread of COVID-19 in communities on both sides of the border.”

Mexico has also requested that the United States respect designated return points, taking into account local security conditions and the capacity of Mexican authorities “to provide adequate care to migrants.”

Another “essential” request is for Washington to provide funding for shelters and nongovernment organizations “in order to improve conditions for migrants and asylum-seekers in a substantive way.”

The demands come as talks between the two countries continue on the reimplementation of the MPP program after a court ordered in August that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reverse its June decision to halt the policy.

“In compliance with the court order, we are working to reimplement MPP as promptly as possible,” DHS spokesperson Marsha Espinosa told Axios.

”We cannot do so until we have the independent agreement from the government of Mexico to accept those we seek to enroll in MPP,“ Espinosa said. ”We will communicate to the court, and to the public, the timing of reimplementation when we are prepared to do so.”

The Biden administration is facing an unprecedented surge in illegal immigration that critics say is fostered by its lax enforcement policies, including halting the MPP and curtailing the use of Title 42, which is used to expel illegal immigrants during the COVID-19 pandemic.